


second star to the right (and straight on till morning)

by green_tea31



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Fix-It, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Not Really Character Death, Possibly Pre-Slash, more like alternate reality, rejecting canon and substituting my own
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:47:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28793406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/green_tea31/pseuds/green_tea31
Summary: Mac sees it in Matty’s eyes, in the way Riley clenches her hands when she thinks no one is looking. He sees it in the way Bozer stares into nothing in quiet moments, the anger in Desi’s eyes. Even Russ, though not close to Jack like the rest of them are (were), is subdued after they get the message.Riley shakes her head and looks up at Mac, eyes wide and pleading, as if Mac could fix this somehow, as if this is just one more impossible problem that Mac can overcome with a bit of ingenious (insane) improvisation.(Jack dies and the team rallies. Mac will always have his partner's back.)
Relationships: Jack Dalton & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 66





	second star to the right (and straight on till morning)

**Author's Note:**

> Well, this was pretty much what I expected after seeing the bts pictures for this episode, but still. I'm not actually angry that they killed Jack period. If they'd given him a decent send-off back when George Eads left, I might have been okay with that, but stringing the fans along for half a season, then spending an entire season pretending he doesn't exist only to kill him now is about what I expected from this show, but not what I hoped for. I haven't seen the actual episode, and I won't either, because it would make me miserable and I've just about managed to claw my way back out of the 2020-induced mental health misery now, and need happy things to stay that way. Most of this fic was written almost a year ago when the bts scenes pictures first hit social media, but I've tried to keep the actual mission as vague as possible and spent today adding some characters and incorporating some things I've gleaned from tumblr. Think of this fic as a slightly to the left reality from canon. 
> 
> For now, I'm done watching this show after they killed Jack and turned it into a pseudo version of Scorpion. I'm not done writing, however, and have started working on my WIPs again. Mac and Jack mean too much to me to just let them go, but from now on my playground will end with season four. 
> 
> Let's all keep Jack alive.
> 
> Self-betaed. All mistakes are my own.
> 
> Title from "Peter Pan" by J.M. Barrie.

The package arrives on a Monday. It’s the only warning Mac gets.

It’s enough.

…

_Jack’s eyes are tired in the dim light of his living room, shadows burrowing themselves into the lines around his eyes. Mac wants nothing more than to smooth these lines away, to tell Jack to get some sleep before Mac has to let him go off alone in the morning, but-_

_But…_

_He’s willing to stay behind while Jack goes off to hunt Kovacs, if that’s what Jack needs, but he’s not willing to let him go without planning for every little contingency either of them can think of._

_Mac mostly survives on improvisation when out in the field, but he’s been trained by Patricia Thornton – he knows how to play the long game, too. And so does Jack._

…

Mac sees it in Matty’s eyes, in the way Riley clenches her hands when she thinks no one is looking. He sees it in the way Bozer stares into nothing in quiet moments, the anger in Desi’s eyes. Even Russ, though not close to Jack like the rest of them are (were), is subdued after they get the message.

Riley shakes her head and looks up at Mac, eyes wide and pleading, as if Mac could fix this somehow, as if this is just one more impossible problem that Mac can overcome with a bit of ingenious (insane) improvisation.

“We have to do something, Mac. We can’t just let-“ her voice breaks and she turns towards Matty. Their boss looks just as shaken as the rest of them but there’s a hint of the fierce determination hidden behind the grief that’s carried them through more than one crisis. Mac’s grip on Jack’s dog tags, still clutched in his hand, tightens. He struggles to stay upright, a sudden feeling of vertigo making him nauseous.

Matty looks at them, eyes burning. “We will do something, Riley. Jack’s sacrifice-“ she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Mac steps forward and puts his hand on her shoulder, frowning when their normally unflappable leader leans into him for support. Her eyes open again and meet his, a silent understanding passing between them that’s only a half-truth from his side, but he can’t think about that right now.

Matty nods; he steps aside.

“Jack’s sacrifice will not be in vain,” Matty says, her voice sure and steady now. “We'll find whoever did this.” Mac watches as the team rallies around her, grief giving way to a new purpose. Riley straightens in her seat. Bozer’s eyes shine with determination, and Desi visibly relaxes, though the anger is still there, ready to be used once they’re out in the field. Mac lets her words wash over him as she explains their next steps while his thumb traces the raised edge around Jack’s tags. He glances over to Russ who is the only one not watching Matty, his eyes on Mac instead, hiding a question the other man isn’t sure how to ask. He probably doesn’t know what question he should ask, but it’s clear that he’s noticed _something_.

Russ is the only one who didn’t know Jack as well as the rest of them, the only one not currently bowed down by grief. His eyes are on Mac because he can see that something in Mac’s reaction doesn’t quite fit with the rest of him – some bit of data that disturbs the perfect maelstrom of emotion in the room. Mac shakes his head and looks back to Matty. He’ll deal with Russ later if he has to, but for now, the team has their mission – and Mac has his.

_Failure is not an option._

…

It’s almost too easy, getting away for a few hours before they leave to start their own hunt for the people responsible for Jack’s death. All it takes is a few mumbled words to Matty and an apologetic “Not now, please,” to the team, and they let him go. He takes the Jeep, the Phoenix cars are loaded with trackers, and drives towards the cemetery where Jack used to visit his father’s grave. Getting out of the car is far more difficult than he expected; this is a pilgrimage he never expected – never _wanted_ to make. It’s only the knowledge about what’s at stake that gets him to the grave without stumbling, falling to his knees in front of the headstone. The inscription almost seems to mock him with its finality.

“Hey, Mr Dalton,” Mac begins, voice breaking on the last syllable. “I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise to you, so I hope you’ll believe me when I say that I’ll do everything possible to bring whoever killed your son to justice.” He can’t quite supress the tears, and honestly doesn’t really care to try. Mac removes Jack’s tags from around his neck and places them in front of the headstone, fingers lingering on the ground for a moment, before getting up again. He returns to his car with slow, measured steps. When he’s sitting behind the wheel, a glance in the rear-view mirror tells him that his watchers have returned to their car as well.

The key he palmed after placing the dog tags onto the grave feels almost too heavy in his pocket.

…

Here is the thing – the important thing – that most people forget about Mac. At the end of the day, Mac is a spy, a spy who was trained by Patricia Thornton and Jack Dalton. Under Thornton, the then-DXS had been operating much closer to institutions such as the CIA, though with less questionable methods. After Thornton, Matty had not only changed the name of the organisation, but also their mission statement, and Bozer’s, as well as most of Riley’s training had reflected that. Mac hadn’t exactly been unhappy about the change back then, there’d been a lot less men like Griggs in his life afterwards, but changing their focus from more long-term missions involving frequent undercover work and observation to the kind of first response team they were now, well…

People underestimate Mac, always have done, really. He doesn’t look like a soldier – or a spy – and that, perhaps, is his second greatest weapon after his brain.

Riley and Bozer have never seen him do this kind of work before, it had simply never been necessary. The world of espionage isn’t kind, it’s dirty and unfair, and sometimes you have to sacrifice every single piece on the board in order to protect your king. He should feel guilty for what he’s doing, for what he’s about to do, but the thing is…

Mac is very, very good at chess, and he’d do almost anything to protect his king right now. 

…

Mac loses his tail on the way back. He has three hours left before he’s expected back at the Phoenix, so he takes a slight detour and leaves the Jeep in the parking lot of Jack’s favourite bar. If anyone checks the trackers that his watchers have almost certainly placed on the car, they’ll think he’s going down memory lane before hunting down the people responsible for Jack’s death. After that, it’s easy to duck out the backdoor of the bar with a grateful nod to Eddie who owns the bar, and who’s a former Army Ranger more likely to burn down his own establishment than give any kind of information about Mac and Jack to strangers. 

The way from the bar to the storage unit takes him roughly twenty minutes. It would have taken longer, but Mac’s been jogging most of the way, impatient to lay eyes on whatever he’s going to find behind the door that key belongs to.

He hesitates, just for a moment, key turned halfway in the lock, pressing his head against cold metal.

It might just be information. There’s no guarantee that he finds what he hopes he’s going to find on the other side. Just because he received that damn package doesn’t mean something couldn’t have gone wrong anyway. It might have been sent despite Jack’s instructions, a little piece of false hope come to tear Mac’s world apart twice. He thinks back to the headstone of Jack’s dad and the depressing finality of it all and makes a decision.

Mac isn’t ready for it to end yet. He opens the door.

“Hello, kid.”

…

In the beginning, Jack calls all of them regularly, but Mac knows that’s going to end someday soon. It’s the inevitable way these kind of missions go – the longer they take, the less contact the operators have with the people they leave behind. It takes six months until Jack and his team go dark, and Mac counts every single second of it as a blessing. From then on, communication is reduced to dead drops and the occasional burner phone which makes its way to Mac via one of Jack’s many dubious contacts. Three years pass, and Mac counts the time in single-line messages:

_Everything’s peachy._

_Heads up, eyes clear._

_Might take a little while longer._

_Sorry, hoss. Still out in the cold_

_I’m fine._

_Still alive._

.

.

.

And then he gets the package. He opens it with shaking hands, his heart beating out a staccato of _please, please, please_. The beat-up copy of Beowulf falls to the ground, and Mac follows, knees hitting the carpet in his living room. He can’t stop the tears of relief – doesn’t try – just cries for what feels like hours, bowed over, fingers clutching the copy of Jack’s favourite book.

...

_“Beowulf if I’m still alive, Mac. You know I love that book. And if I’m not...,” Jack’s voice trails off, eyes still shadowed in the half-light. He raises a hand to grip Mac’s neck and his voice trembles when he continues, “If I’m not, then it’s Alice in Wonderland, ‘cause you know-“_

_Mac laughs shakily and lets Jack draw him into an embrace. “You hate that book,” he says, voice muffled by Jack’s skin._

_He can feel Jack’s answering grin. “Yeah – doesn’t make any damn sense that stupid book.”_

_Tomorrow, Mac will let Jack leave him behind while he goes hunting._

_Tonight – they plan._

…

Mac lets his eyes wander over Jack, taking in the changes the last three years have wrought. Jack is leaner, his hair cropped close to his head, while a beard hides most of his face. There’s little cuts and scrapes all over the skin Mac can see, he recognizes shrapnel wounds when he sees them, and a hardness in Jack’s eyes that Mac doesn’t like and that reminds him of the Jack he first met in Afghanistan all those years ago.

“Mac-“ Jack begins, but Mac doesn’t let him continue.

“Shut up.”

“Mac-“

“You don’t get to talk right now,” Mac says, stepping closer until he can wrap his arms around Jack – carefully, because he doesn’t know – doesn’t even want to think about what other injuries the man might be hiding.

“I missed you, you goddamn bastard,” Mac mumbles into Jack’s neck, followed by a teary laugh.

Jack wraps his arms around Mac almost hesitantly but tightens his embrace when he realises that Mac has no intention of letting go just yet.

“Missed you too, kid.”

Mac draws back, reluctantly, because as much as he’d like to continue to soak in Jack’s warmth, they’re currently on a tight schedule. The storage room is empty except for Jack’s bag, and a beaten up couch that looks like Jack’s slept on it for the last few hours. Mac’s heart clenches at the thought that Jack has been alone until now, not knowing who to trust.

But then, that’s the reason he’s here now, isn’t it? Because when every other avenue is closed, the person Jack turns to will always be Mac.

Mac looks at Jack, marvelling at the warm smile on his partner’s face, at the complete and utter trust in Jack’s eyes.

He takes a deep breath. “What do you need?”

…

_“Riley might not forgive us for keeping her in the dark,” Mac says. The night is almost over, and in the first light of dawn the bags beneath Jack’s eyes seem even deeper than before. Mac probably doesn’t look much better, but between the two of them they have covered nearly every eventuality, and made plans for backup plans that didn’t exist yet when Jack told him about this yesterday evening._

_Jack nods and leans forward, elbows resting on his thighs. “Yeah, but you know how this goes, Mac. The more people know, the greater the risk. I’d rather have her think I’m dead, than have Kovacs or his men think she knows something that could lead them to me. You’re trained for this kind of thing, but Riley and Bozer…”_

_Mac nods. Riley and Bozer don’t have the training – or the experience for an emotional deception on this scale, and Matty…_

_Matty is very, very good at what she does, but she also has a tendency to micromanage, and for all her experience, she still sometimes underestimates Jack – or maybe her experiences with Jack colour her judgement now, Mac doesn’t know. But when push comes to shove, Mac will let Jack do what he needs to do and Matty might not, so she’s out as well._

_Forgiveness is sometimes hard to come by in their line of work, but Mac has hope that their little family will forgive them in time if they’re forced to play this kind of deception. They might not forget, but they might eventually forgive_.

…

In the end, Mac needs to do very little. They hunt down the woman responsible for the explosion that (almost) killed Jack, and Riley doesn’t kill her in return, but it’s a close thing. He gets sporadic updates from Jack while trying to navigate the emotional minefield this operation has become, and every message is a lifeline in the dark, a tether that Mac can cling to while almost drowning in his team’s grief and the guilt at being responsible for a significant part of it.

He gets the all clear from Jack on the way back to LA.

It’s over. Kovacs is dead, and Jack is coming home. Mac flees to the bathroom of the plane to give himself a few minutes because he’s very close to hyperventilating.

When he looks into the mirror, there’s a lightness in his eyes that hasn’t been there for the past three years. He can’t keep himself from smiling, and he stays in the room for another few minutes until he calms down. He re-joins the others just as the skyline of LA appears in the windows.

They’re home.

…

Mac doesn’t want to keep up their charade any longer than necessary, but Jack deserves to be there when the team finds out he’s alive and, quite frankly, the team deserves to see him with their own eyes. If Jack had actually died then Mac would be busy right now dealing with the aftermath, probably taking out the GTO to Riley and inviting her on a drive, just the two of them in Jack’s car and their shared grief, but since Jack is alive, Mac goes to Russ instead. He wants – _needs_ – to give the team time to heal, time away from the Phoenix, and since Russ hasn’t said anything about the suspicions Mac is certain he has, Mac thinks that the other man might be able to do something about that.

Russ looks up when Mac steps into his office.

“I need your help.”

Russ' eyes narrow. Mac can see the question in his eyes. To his credit, Russ doesn’t ask.

He nods. “What do you need?”

…

Mac asks Russ if he has a place not too far from the city where the team can stay for a weekend. Somewhere away from the places associated with Jack Dalton where they can recuperate and start the healing process. Russ comes through and drives them to a beautiful mansion a few miles down the coast, right at the beach with all the privacy they can ask for. They spend the first night together, in the living room, reminiscing, and Mac tries not to be too obvious while he anxiously checks his phone every chance he gets.

When he gets the message, he excuses himself and makes his way to the front door. Jack is dressed in civvies, the uniform too much a reminder of what they’ve almost lost. Mac steals a last embrace before stepping back into the living room, clinging to Jack with all the desperation he hasn’t allowed himself to feel over the last three year.

When he comes to a halt in front of the team, nervously wringing his hands, there’s a look of confusion on most of his teammates’ faces, but it’s the slow realisation and almost desperate, anguished hope on Riley’s face that hits him like a punch in the gut. It seems she’s learnt to read him quite well over the past few years. Mac hopes she’ll still talk to him after he’s finished.

He takes a deep breath, secure in the knowledge that he’s not alone in this – not anymore.

“Guys – there’s something you need to know.” 

…

_“I’m sorry I have to put this on you, Mac,” Jack’s voice is barely more than a whisper in the pre-dawn light. "I’m so damn sorry, it’s come to this, kid.”_

_Mac shakes his head and smiles sadly. All these years and Jack still doesn’t quite get it._

_“You go kaboom, I go kaboom, Jack.”_

_Jack looks up, there’s hope and despair warring in his eyes. Mac thinks (hopes) the hope might win out after tonight._

_“Till the end of the line?”_

_“Always.”_


End file.
